There are certain names in fishing that have stood the test of time. They’ve been around for generations, continually evolving as fishing techniques, tackle, and technology change. The St. Croix Premier Series is one of those names.
We’ve been working with St. Croix for a considerable amount of time, and I’ve had the opportunity to fish an incredible variety of their rods. I’ve used them for everything from freshwater fishing to inshore saltwater applications, chasing muskies, trout, walleyes, pike, bass, and a whole bunch of other species.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that choosing the right fishing rod goes far beyond simply picking a spinning rod or baitcasting rod. Power, action, taper, handle configuration, and overall design all play a role in how effectively a rod performs for a particular presentation.
That attention to detail is something St. Croix has always taken seriously.
And their newly updated Premier Series is a great example of taking a proven design and continuing to make it better.
Nearly Seven Decades of St. Croix Premier
The Premier Series isn’t a new name in fishing. In fact, it is one of the oldest and most iconic rod families St. Croix has ever produced. The Premier name dates back nearly 68 years.
Think about that for a minute.
Fishing has changed tremendously during that period. We’ve gone from relatively basic presentations and equipment to incredibly specialized techniques involving sophisticated electronics, advanced fishing lines, highly refined artificial baits, and technique-specific terminal tackle.
Through all those changes, the Premier Series has continued to evolve.
That’s really the key to a rod series having that kind of longevity. You don’t simply build something once and leave it alone for 68 years. Every number of years, St. Croix comes back to the Premier lineup and looks at what can be improved.
That’s exactly what they’ve done again with this newest generation.
Taking a Proven Rod and Making It Better
When St. Croix updates a rod series like Premier, they aren’t looking at just one component. They go through the entire rod.
That includes the guide train, blank components, handles, tapers, and the other individual elements that determine how the finished rod performs.
Those details matter.
A fishing rod is essentially a system. The blank provides the foundation, but everything that’s built around that blank influences the way the rod feels and performs in your hand.
Change the taper and you can change the way the rod loads.
Change the handle and you can change the way an angler interacts with the rod.
Change the guide train and you’re changing another important component of the overall package.
When you combine all those little refinements, you can take an already proven fishing rod and make it more applicable to the way anglers are fishing today.
That’s what I find interesting about the new Premier rods. You’re getting the heritage of one of St. Croix’s longest-running rod families, but you’re getting it in a modern package.
The Right Rod for the Way You Fish
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned after fishing so many different species is that there really isn’t one rod that does everything perfectly.
A musky fisherman needs something very different from a trout fisherman.
A walleye angler pitching a particular presentation may want a completely different power and action than somebody fishing another technique.
The same thing applies to bass, pike, panfish, inshore species, and virtually everything else that swims.
That’s why St. Croix puts so much emphasis on matching the power, action, taper and handle design to the specific situations anglers encounter.
Sometimes those differences can appear pretty subtle when you’re standing in a tackle shop looking at a wall of fishing rods. But once you get on the water and start fishing a particular presentation for hours at a time, those subtle differences become much more noticeable.
The right rod simply makes the presentation easier to fish.
And ultimately, that’s what good fishing equipment is supposed to do.
47 Premier Models
Another thing that really stands out about the Premier lineup is the sheer number of choices.
The current series includes 37 different spinning rods and 10 different baitcasting rods.
That’s 47 different Premier models.
There’s a reason for that much variety.
Today’s anglers are incredibly technique-oriented. We’re selecting specific rods for specific jobs rather than trying to make one rod handle every fishing situation.
Depending on the species you’re targeting and the presentation you’re using, you may want a different rod length, power, action, taper, or handle configuration.
Having that many choices within the Premier family gives anglers an opportunity to find a rod that more closely matches what they’re actually doing on the water.
Putting the Premier Series to Work on Walleyes and Pike
Of course, specifications only tell you so much.
Ultimately, you’ve got to put a rod in your hands and fish with it.
I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time fishing the new Premier rods, and over the last couple of days we’ve been drilling walleyes and pike with them.
That’s where you really start appreciating what a rod is designed to do.
When you’re actively fishing and catching fish, you’re constantly interacting with the rod. You’re casting, working the presentation, detecting bites, setting hooks, fighting fish, and making another cast.
Do that hundreds of times during a day and rod design becomes incredibly important.
That’s also where St. Croix’s experience shows.
They’ve been building fishing rods for a long time, and they’ve spent decades developing rods around the little subtleties that exist between species and presentations.
Fishing Rods Have Become Specialized Tools
If you look at where fishing equipment has gone over the years, specialization has become a major part of the sport.
We don’t necessarily approach rod selection by saying, “I need a fishing rod.”
Instead, we’re asking much more specific questions.
What species am I fishing for? What presentation am I using? How heavy are the baits? How much power do I need? What type of action works best for the technique?
Those considerations can make a significant difference in how efficiently you fish.
I’ve fished St. Croix rods for everything from muskies to trout and from freshwater to saltwater, and that’s one of the things I’ve always appreciated about their approach. They understand that different fish and different presentations require different tools.
An Iconic Rod That Keeps Evolving
There’s something pretty remarkable about a fishing rod series lasting nearly seven decades.
To do that, you’ve got to have a good foundation. But you also have to be willing to change.
That’s the story of the St. Croix Premier Series.
It’s an iconic rod family with a tremendous amount of history behind it, but St. Croix hasn’t treated that history as a reason to stand still. They’ve continued going back through the rods, examining the blanks, guides, handles, tapers and other components and looking for opportunities to improve them.
The result is a Premier lineup that carries forward a name anglers have known for generations while being designed for the fishing we’re doing today.
With 37 spinning models and 10 baitcasting models, there’s a tremendous range of options for different species, techniques, and fishing situations.